Nehemiah 1–2
Nehemiah’s Grief for the Exiles
1 The words of aNehemiah the son of Hacaliah.
Now it happened in bthe month Chislev, cin the twentieth year, while I was in dSusa the 1capitol,
2 that aHanani, one of my brothers, and 1some men from Judah came; and I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped and had survived the captivity, and about Jerusalem.
3 They said to me, “The remnant there in the aprovince who survived the captivity are in great distress and breproach, and bthe wall of Jerusalem is broken down and cits gates are burned with fire.”
4 When I heard these words, aI sat down and wept and mourned for days; and I was fasting and praying before bthe God of heaven.
5 I said, “I beseech You, O Lord God of heaven, athe great and awesome God, bwho preserves the covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments,
6 alet Your ear now be attentive and Your eyes open to hear the prayer of Your servant which I am praying before You now, day and night, on behalf of the sons of Israel Your servants, bconfessing the sins of the sons of Israel which we have sinned against You; cI and my father’s house have sinned.
7 “aWe have acted very corruptly against You and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the ordinances bwhich You commanded Your servant Moses.
8 “Remember the word which You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, ‘aIf you are unfaithful I will scatter you among the peoples;
9 abut if you return to Me and keep My commandments and do them, though those of you who have been scattered were in the most remote part of the heavens, I bwill gather them from there and will bring them cto the place where I have chosen to cause My name to dwell.’
10 “aThey are Your servants and Your people whom You redeemed by Your great power and by Your strong hand.
11 “O Lord, I beseech You, amay Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant and the prayer of Your servants who delight to 1revere Your name, and make Your servant successful today and grant him compassion before this man.”
Now I was the bcupbearer to the king.
1 And it came about in the month Nisan, ain the twentieth year of King bArtaxerxes, that wine was before him, and cI took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence.
2 So the king said to me, “Why is your face sad though you are not sick? aThis is nothing but sadness of heart.” Then I was very much afraid.
3 I said to the king, “aLet the king live forever. Why should my face not be sad bwhen the city, the place of my fathers’ tombs, lies desolate and its gates have been consumed by fire?”
4 Then the king said to me, “What would you request?” aSo I prayed to the God of heaven.
5 I said to the king, “If it please the king, and if your servant has found favor before you, send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ tombs, that I may rebuild it.”
6 Then the king said to me, the queen sitting beside him, “How long will your journey be, and when will you return?” So it pleased the king to send me, and aI gave him a definite time.
7 And I said to the king, “If it please the king, let letters be given me afor the governors of the provinces beyond the River, that they may allow me to pass through until I come to Judah,
8 and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king’s aforest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of bthe fortress which is by the 1temple, for the wall of the city and for the house to which I will go.” And the king granted them to me because cthe good hand of my God was on me.
9 Then I came to athe governors of the provinces beyond the River and gave them the king’s letters. Now bthe king had sent with me officers of the army and horsemen.
10 When aSanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite 1official heard about it, it was very displeasing to them that someone had come to seek the welfare of the sons of Israel.
Nehemiah Inspects Jerusalem’s Walls
11 So I acame to Jerusalem and was there three days.
12 And I arose in the night, I and a few men with me. I did not tell anyone what my God was putting into my 1mind to do for Jerusalem and there was no animal with me except the animal on which I was riding.
13 So I went out at night by athe Valley Gate in the direction of the Dragon’s Well and on to the 1Refuse Gate, inspecting the walls of Jerusalem bwhich were broken down and its cgates which were consumed by fire.
14 Then I passed on to athe Fountain Gate and bthe King’s Pool, but there was no place for 1my mount to pass.
15 So I went up at night by the aravine and inspected the wall. Then I entered the Valley Gate again and returned.
16 The officials did not know where I had gone or what I had done; nor had I as yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials or the rest who did the work.
17 Then I said to them, “You see the bad situation we are in, that aJerusalem is desolate and its gates burned by fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem so that we will no longer be a reproach.”
18 I told them how the hand of my God had been favorable to me and also about the king’s words which he had spoken to me. Then they said, “Let us arise and build.” aSo they put their hands to the good work.
19 But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite 1official, and aGeshem the Arab heard it, bthey mocked us and despised us and said, “What is this thing you are doing? aAre you rebelling against the king?”
20 So I answered them and said to them, “aThe God of heaven will give us success; therefore we His servants will arise and build, bbut you have no portion, right or memorial in Jerusalem.”